Undocumented Filipino American, Pulitzer Prize Winner Gets High School Named After Him

An elementary school in Mountain View, California was named afterJose Antonio Vargas — an undocumented Filipino immigrant who worked his way up to become a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, an acclaimed filmmaker and an immigration rights activist.

Vargas, the founder of media nonprofit Define American, arrived in the U.S. at the age of 12 in 1993 to live with his grandparents.

On Aug. 15, the new Jose Antonio Vargas Elementary School opened with a dedication ceremony, bringing him, district officials, faculty and community members together.

“You think that someone who gives that many speeches will be fine with this,” the 38-year-old said, according to Inquirer.net. “This [sic] has been very nerve-wracking to write this speech, and I think I’ve been so nervous because I have never given a speech in front of an elementary school.”

The school, located at 220 N. Whisman Road, will initially offer kindergarten to Grade 4 due to a district rezoning.

Officials selected Vargas from a list of plausible choices for the school’s name, which included former President Barack Obama, former first lady Michelle Obama, former Mountain View School Board member Gail Urban Moore, Bay Area philanthropist Ruth Clouse Chance, and U.S. Navy Admiral Grace Hopper.

In his speech, Vargas shared how the school has become his “safe place,” a venue not only for learning but also where he could be “the most free and the most [himself].”

He talked about teachers who actually cared about him and his story, including choir teacher Jill Denny, whom he acknowledged at the audience for moving a trip to Japan to Hawaii after learning that he cannot travel.

Vargas also pointed out that he “would not be the human being I am without my community.”

“This school, our school, represents the power of community – how to treat people with respect, how to show gratitude…how to live your life with love, how to live a loving life of continuous education, that we can never stop learning, and we can never stop learning about and from each other,” he said.